Has anyone ever put a lift on an ATC??

[detonateme]

I am an avid mud rider who is looking to restore a honda 250 big red. I want to set it up for mudding but as it stands the ground clearance is too low for the tire set up I want. Even if I could fit 29 inch tires under there it would look ridiculous. I was thinking about a lift and even an extended swing arm (yeah a lot of machining). Anyone ever tried such a thing??

[i58829]

I dont know that the larger tires are gonna do anything for you. I'd get some aggressive tires that aren't so tall. That thing wasn't made made to spin tires that large, but if you had 3 miles to get it rolling i bet it'd do 60. I dont know that much about the 4x4 atv world but i'm pretty sure 29's are reserved for the 500cc+ machines.

As far as the lift i dont know anything about that stuff either, but that can be settled once you find a tire that performs well with the motor, TC...

[Dirtcrasher]

That rear differential makes things much more difficult.

If it were a chain driven ATC, a longer shock and longer front end could be swapped out but a Big Red suspension mod would be a chore.

They ran 25" tires stock, but that rear end being a solid axle drags in the mud quite a bit.

[runaway]

hello
heres a cool photo of a lifted tryke.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s221/runaway_017/th_MVC-752F.jpg (http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s221/runaway_017/MVC-752F.jpg)

[willrideanythin]

I dont think 29 would be too bad. Thats only 2 inches taller speaking from a ground clearance issue.

As far as a lift kit one can be made by making extended shock mount for the back, That should be good for 4 inches or so. The forks would pose an issue unless you could use a dirt bike front end or longer forks from another ATC.

As for the longer swinger check out the Kawi riders forum. There is a guy there that make shaft drive extended swingers. They are around 400-500 I think. If he cant do the drive shaft I know most basic machine shops can build a drive shaft.

It would be alot of work but worth it in the end to have a one of Big Red. Longevity might not be there clutch wise but run the lightest tire you can with an ITP blue label type rim.

Good luck

[McDerry]

Crank the preload on the rear, should give you enough room for 28" tires easy. 2+5 backspacing is what you'll want for a front rim in a 12 diameter 8 inch width and the 4/110 bolt pattern to mount bigger meats on.

[Name Brand]

A 250 BR is awfully similiar to an SX. Check out the link to my SX in my signature. I'm running a TRX250 swingarm which is three inches longer than an SX's. I had to make a bracket to mount the lower end of the shock; I put three mounting holes in it so I could adjust the heigth that the rear sits at. It's set up so I am almost but not quite maxed out on the driveshaft angle on the highest setting with the rear at full droop.

The lowest point on my machine (ground clearance wise...) is the bottom of the rear diff skidplate. From there to flat ground is 8 inches. :D